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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Tangle of the Week - Jetties

Here's one in honor of my daughter's 3rd birthday next week! (Three years old, omigosh!!)
Jetties is a three year olds dream - rubba-balls everywhere. Yippee!

Oh, you noticed, rats! Yeh, you're right, I didn't finish drawing in all those stripey balls on the front of the card. You can help me out. Did I mention it's my daughter's birthday? I'm too busy getting ready for her party - the one she has been talking about since September! And...

... if you noticed the little poll that I had on the side of this blog about what you'd like in a book...?

Well... YES! I am doing a book about Zentangle and I need your help. You may, or may not, know that there are about 102 "official" tangles. These are the patterns that the Certified Zentangle Teachers learn and then teach their students. I only plan to include a few of the basic ones in the book - the ones that are building blocks for other patterns. SO... I need NEW TANGLES!!!

Have you invented a new pattern? If you have, and you'd like to share, email me a jpeg with a sketch of the steps, the name of the Tangle ("untitled" is not acceptable - name it after your kid or pet if you have no clue), and your name. (email it to : sakhmet at tds dot net) I reserve the right to choose between any similar designs and to make minor alterations if necessary. If I use your tangles in the book, I will put your name with it (unless you just want your initials or something). This is so exciting!!

And if any CZTs are reading this and panicking, this book is intended to get more people excited about Zentangle and interested in taking classes. I received a lot of emails after the magazine article appeared asking where people could take classes or learn more. The book is geared more towards those who already have some experience tangling.

Somehow my comment didn't get posted, but I just started following your blog and I LOVE it! I didn't realize you were writing a book. I'll sure buy it!!! I didn't know about 102 "official" tangles. I'm hoping Rick and Maria come out with just a book soon too! The kit sounds nice, but I have the pens and paper already.

Thanks for your great ideas! I hope this book will help give people more ideas for patterns, especially those without their own CZT. Rick and Maria are working on a book. The pages I have seen are... absolutely gorgeous. I won't say anything about it except that it is more of a coffee table book, not a how-to. But, you WILL want one when you see it. If you have never seen Maria's illustration work you should check out her studio site, Pendragon Ink. I believe there is a link on the zentangle.com site.

I just recently found your blog and I love your "tangle of the week" feature - I feel like I've dramatically improved the appearance of my zentangle-inspired doodles just by applying some of your suggestions. (I also managed to read the magazine article a week or two ago, after reading about it here, and it was quite good!)

I agree with gini that it would be nice to have a forum for getting critiques and suggestions on our work. One of my frustrations with the ATC 'community' I follow is that nobody seems to do real critique - I only ever see compliments. Not that the compliments are always misplaced, but it's hard to grow and improve if you aren't getting constructive criticism!

Yes - if you have a tangle you want to submit for the book - do it SOON! Email it to me at beezink at tds dot com. I need sketches (jpegs) showing the steps - at this point -and if I plan to use it in the book I'll let you know the other stuff.